1, 2 ,3 Go ?

I started my job hunt around the third week of January, 2009. At that point, confusion reigned supreme. Confusion not about what I wanted but confusion about how I was going to achieve what I wanted given the gloomy economic environment.

The perfect description of my situation – A career switcher looking for challenging opportunities in one of the deepest of recessions. Can it get worse?

Career Switcher ( WSJ Article on how tough the times are for this category of job seekers) – the very word will turn off the virtual light bulb hovering around the recruiter’s head when (s)he picks up a good resume or so I would think. Why would anyone hire a person who wants to try uncharted waters using up their resources, especially when those resources are scarce!

Anyways, let me move on to what I was going to tell you.

As I start my job hunt, I give my resume a long, hard look. I put it away thinking (more on my perception of resumes later!) it looks good. I write to a couple of people I already know and check if they have anything for me. I am not even going to elucidate on their responses, we know the answer.

Step #2: I go through job boards, find a few openings, get excited and start applying. This was the algorithm that made its rounds in my brain:

IF(Job opening = new AND
Job Opening = MyProfile)
{
Apply Now
WHERE Now<=30minutes;
}
ELSE
Miss the Bus/train/plane;

The approach was good and bad. Good, because you have a greater chance of being in the race and bad, because you are hurrying up your application process and compromising on quality. Yes! I can say that with conviction, there is loss of quality. Pick up any resume that only took you 5 minutes to write. You are bound to find errors in it.

In my opinion one could take time to mull over the job description, calm ones nerves down with some caffeine, and then start the process.

Unfortunately, I did not follow this more efficient algorithm during the first 2 months of my job hunt and in my opinion I lost a lot of opportunities there.

Job hunt is a race and a very tough one, no doubt, but it is not a race where someone fires a gun and you start running. I have come to realize that in this race there is no one offering Kirkland (Why Kirkland? I love Costco. More on my dream companies later!) water bottles on your way to the finish line. There is room neither for fatigue nor for error and one does not reach their finish line unless they have perfected their way to it.

There is a job opening waiting for you out there, it may not wait a lifetime but it will till you are ready to accept it. These days, I look at a job opening, close the browser and let it be for at least half a day before I respond to it. I let the excitement go down to a level just enough to apply effectively to the job.

Dear Recruiter:

On an average how long should we take to respond to a posting? Would 24 hours be a good timeframe?I know there is no clear cut answer to this but any ideas?

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